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Wooo! Getting excited. Minecraft 1.8 will be out within a couple of weeks according to mighty creator, Notch. In this preview from PAX, he demos many of the new features.

He also goes on to explain how the feature list for 1.8 became too large and Mojang has decided to split it into two releases, one that will become 1.9. This is good news because it means that 1.9 is already begun and 1.8 is soon upon us.

Some of the features demoed:

Creative mode

NPC Villages, little towns with little automatic people getting busy in them

New effects for explosions, lighting (including brightness control) and fighting.

New larger and more pronounced biomes

New terrain such as Rivers, Ravines and Plains

New Monster! Creepier than a creeper: The Enderman. Harmless until you look at them. They teleport towards you and can pick up blocks!

Experience points – though they have no effect yet

Hunger – you need to eat regularly even if you’re not damaged

Sprinting – short bursts of speed

This all amounts to a lot of excited little minecrafters who can’t wait and are counting down the sleeps until 1.8 is released. GO NOTCH!